India payroll lead

Payroll Operations Manager

Experience: 6-8 years

Location: Madurai

Role Overview

Responsible for managing payroll delivery across a defined cluster of countries in a region, ensuring smooth end-to-end operations. Reviews business processes continuously and drives improvement toward superior delivery and highest client satisfaction across all cluster countries. Manages a team of country managers / leads with a robust governance and reporting framework to ensure exceptions are addressed effectively. Responsible for budget control for the cluster organization. Ensures country-specific knowledge within the cluster is captured and maintained in the system of record. Drives automation levels within the cluster and reduces manual processing over time. Ensure the cluster team develops in-house capability for processing and auditing payroll delivery within six to nine months of starting operations in any new country.

Qualification & Experience

Any graduate; Postgraduate / MBA preferred. Industry certifications such as CIPP / APA are desirable but not mandatory. 6-8 years of progressive experience in payroll operations, with at least 3 years in a leadership role. Mandatory: Hands-on expertise in India payroll – deep working knowledge of Indian statutory and compliance requirements including PF, ESI, PT, TDS, gratuity, LTA, and India-specific payroll legislation and amendments. Experience processing multi-state India payrolls and managing compliance calendars across Indian payroll cycles strongly preferred.

Selection Parameters

Excellent track record of leadership in the payroll industry. Career stability: limited job hopping. Excellent communication skills – able to articulate complex payroll matters clearly to both internal teams and external stakeholders. Client-facing experience: demonstrated track record of interfacing with senior stakeholders at consulting firms, MNCs, or large enterprise clients – including participation in QBRs, governance calls, and service escalation management. Travel ready.